LGPS Teaching Assistant pension

Nick9967

Need a few pointers if anyone knows please,
My wife is a TA at a small school, 44, has been for 5 years.
She contributes 5%, employer contributes substantially more - great if you can get it! 
She's allergic to knowing about pensions and doesn't want to be bothered, i however am 53 and will be semi (16 hour minimum wage job max) retired by 58. 
I have an average pot £200k and 2 properties and am planning for OUR retirement - she'll carry on working for at least another 15 years i think.
That'll theoretically give her 20 years in this scheme.
I am trying to find out via various documents etc who holds her pension and where we can see its current value and future values?
I know its a long shot but does anyone have any pointers I'm coming a little unstuck before i start , and the allergy isn't helping!!
 

daveyjp

She should receive an annual statement advising of her annual pension payment.  If its LGPS it should be provided by the local authority in which the school is based, so contact them for the latest figure.

As its a DB scheme based on career average earnings there is no 'value' or 'pot' as such as the intention is to pay a monthly pension for life.  It is in effect deferred salary.

https://www.lgpsmember.org/more/pam_interim.php

JoeCrystal

What is her current salary anyway?  Your wife was very fortunate enough to be auto-enrolled into one of the best pension schemes in the country. 

Silvertabby

As daveyjp says, she will be in the LGPS.  She would have/should have been given forms to  complete and return plus basic scheme details when she started her job - but, as a retired LGPS administrator, I know that people who find pensions 'boring' just tip this straight into the bin.

Annual benefit statements are produced, but are rarely issued in paper form now due to costs.  Depending on her LGPS rules, your wife may make a special request for paper statements - but the normal way is to access them on the on-line LGPS personal account.  Access to that gives not only the latest benefit statement, but also information about the scheme and a calculator to run future estimates.

The school secretary will be able to give your wife the contact details for her LGPS, so she can either ring or e-mail them to ask how how she can set up her on-line access.

ADD: The initial forms would have included the offer of transferring any other pension funds - under very favourable conditions - into the LGPS.  However, that boat has sailed now as transfers in must be done within the first 12 months of membership.

FURTHER ADD:  davey's link is handy in the meantime.  If you use this, note that as the LGPS is a DB scheme, the final figures shown are the annual pension, and not  the total 'pot'.

Nick9967

Thanks all , very useful, daveyjp, useful site thanks although didn't work but i know where it is now,
 Joe, about £14k pa 
Silvertabby, bin tipping is her favourite hobby!
I've tried logging onto the site for our area LGPS , but actually that site crashes when you try to enter, little frustrating but, School Bursar should have the answers!! I'll have to wait,
Any ideas what sort of pension you'd be looking at for that salary 20 years service retire at 60 or 67? 

Silvertabby

Nick9967 said:

Thanks all , very useful, daveyjp, useful site thanks although didn't work but i know where it is now,
 Joe, about £14k pa 
Silvertabby, bin tipping is her favourite hobby!
I've tried logging onto the site for our area LGPS , but actually that site crashes when you try to enter, little frustrating but, School Bursar should have the answers!! I'll have to wait,
Any ideas what sort of pension you'd be looking at for that salary 20 years service retire at 60 or 67? 

Davey's link worked for me.  You need to use the sliders to input the salary, increases, not over-type the existing figures?

Based on 20 years CARE service, 2% inflation and 1% pay increases, I make her annual pension £7744.93 per year. 

Her normal retirement age in the scheme will be the same as her State pension age.  LGPS benefits may be taken from (currently) age 55, but subject to a reduction for early payment.  As an example, 5 years early would mean a reduction of some 22%. 

JoeCrystal

Nick9967 said:

Thanks all , very useful, daveyjp, useful site thanks although didn't work but i know where it is now,
 Joe, about £14k pa 
Silvertabby, bin tipping is her favourite hobby!
I've tried logging onto the site for our area LGPS , but actually that site crashes when you try to enter, little frustrating but, School Bursar should have the answers!! I'll have to wait,
Any ideas what sort of pension you'd be looking at for that salary 20 years service retire at 60 or 67? 

You can easily work it out since it is all laid down on the LGPS website on how it calculated. Assuming that she worked until 67, that will add on another 23 years plus five years service already accrued.
If her wage is staying the same in real term and the accrual rate did not change, then she can expect an index-linked annual pension of £7,999 from the age of 67. It will be less if she wants to access it earlier. 
That 5% is very cheap for what she will get out of it.

ldhme

I'm part of the Civil Service Pension scheme, I looked into the LGPS when I was considering moving jobs but that never happened. Either way it works similarly. You get a percentage of your pensionable earnings each year as pension. Mines 2.32%, I think the LGPS is 2.1% or there abouts. So on 14k it'd be £291 pension built up per year X 20 years = £5880 pension a year. Inflation and pay rises not taken into account and assuming it's taken at NPA.
Have a play with the retirement model calculator:
https://www.lgpsmember.org/more/pam/index.php

My partner is also a teaching assistant and gaining access to the website seems particularly difficult and not really self explanatory.

Nick9967

Ah my mistake, i was looking at the result as if it was a pot rather than an annual income , you've all been super helpful,  although I'm now a little annoyed her pension is so good compared to mine haha!
Thanks all 

OldBeanz

Nick9967 said:

Ah my mistake, i was looking at the result as if it was a pot rather than an annual income , you've all been super helpful,  although I'm now a little annoyed her pension is so good compared to mine haha!
Thanks all 

There is just so much more you need to know.
I am aware of a couple in a similar position with the husband earning well into the 20% tax bracket.
1. The LGPS has an excellent web site which you should gain access to. It allows you to play about with early retirement and shows all other details of your pension. Not all authorities give you access but well worth the effort to find out.
https://lgssmember.pensiondetails.co.uk
2. The friend with a £13.8k salary has approx £250-260pa added to her pension each year so your wife's will be growing at that rate (increasing with inflation). The friend is due to retire at 61.5 and that will bring her pension down from £5k to £3k (figures within £50) so losing 5.5years @ £250 and the rest for drawing it early. As the pension is inflation linked there is no requirement to mess about with inflation settings (she doesn't see her pay rising in the next few years). The friend can adjust retirement dates etc to suit. Annual pension statements have just been issued.
3. The LGPS also has an added benefit of their AVC which allows you to combine it with the main pension and take the amount as a lump sum. So money from taxable income on the way in and no tax on the way out. So the friend can draw a lump sum of £20k in addition to her pension but each £100 added would only have been £80 of pay - 25% uplift plus any investment growth). Very few HMG based pensions allow you to do this valuable upgrade and is the icing on top of a golden pension.
4. Note the LGPS is taxed at source so the limit that she can contribute is down to the tax she is liable for (you could if you want pay £8k into a SIPP and the SIPP provider would add £2k although she would not have paid any tax) so the friend has given her marriage allowance to her husband. So she pays all the money that is taxable (less NI and LGPS of 5.5% which are taken first). You of course have taxable income from your lettings which you could perhaps allocate to your wife to raise her taxable income to allow her to contribute more. On top she could pay £8k into a SIPP so virtually all her money goes into a pension which she will draw between retirement and state pension). So again tax relief on the way in and most if not all taken without tax.
5. She can also add to her LGPS pension by buying more pension (with above caveat and also it would be restricted by drawing early as well) 
https://www.lgpsmember.org/more/apc/extra.php?

Your wife is a little pension goldmine if you understand the rules Government backed pension income allows you to sleep more easily in bed than house renting  

Nick9967

Thanks OldBeanz some great info there, my plan is half way there!!!